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During the course of our paranormal investigations we are often asked how to get rid of a negative spirit. The unfortunate answer is that there are things you can trybut nothing is guaranteed. We had a previous article on our site “How to Perform a “Cleansing Ritual” To Get Rid Of Negative Energy” in which we discussed smudging but I wanted to add a little more to that.

My family once lived in an apartment that was seemingly haunted and my partner was even physically attacked; I however was rarely bothered by them. Try as I might, I could not get my partner to stand up for herself. The spirits were basically like school yard bullies and they simply had her terrified!

One of the biggest things you can do to help yourself is demand the spirit to leave. Let them know that the home is yours, they need to leave and you will not tolerate seeing them, hearing them or being bullied by them.Personally, I used to scream and yell at them; I treated them as I would a person I was in a confrontation with. Sometimes it seemed a bit odd to be screaming and yelling at the air, waving my fists, but I soon realized that they didn’t bother me because they knew they had no right to do so and that I would not tolerate being messed with in the least.

You must stand up for yourself. You can have your home blessed and cleansed until the cows come home but if you don’t stand up for yourself they will only continue bothering you.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the importance of conducting thorough background research on not only a property, but your potential client(s) as well. If anyone can learn from our groups recent experience then great!

We were recently contacted to perform an investigation for a family and since their home was so new, the property background research gave us limited information. It was an area of town that I was personally familiar with since I’d lived there for several years and in addition to the construction of the home, I also knew there had been Indian burial grounds there prior to the housing development so the possibility of a haunting was very real.

I conducted my initial phone interview and the client indicated they had used a Ouija board in the past but it had been some years. They were afraid something was actually following them from place to place and they were wondering if their use of the Ouija board. Nothing else was indicated during the phone interview other than the activity seemed to center around one child in particular.

After the phone interview I began background research on the client and found something of interest; there was an order of protection was filed for with one of the Phoenix courts in late 2011; this would mean the order should still be in effect if it was granted. Since I only knew her name I left it at that because it may have not even been her, but upon arriving on scene I learned it was her husband that she’d filed the order against. We were also informed that she’d used the Ouija board much more recently than she’d indicated on the phone interview.

Certain things that showed up in our evidence had that issue of the order of protection nagging at me so I did a little more digging; I was shocked by what I uncovered. There were allegations against the husband for child molestation of the child that the activity was centered around. I wasn’t very surprised after finding this information based on some things we’d found during our investigation but the client continued to insist this must have something to do with the Ouija board. Though it was incredibly difficult, I was forced to confront them head on with the information I had and advised her that counseling may be more in order than a house blessing.

As investigators, it’s our duty to make sure we research not only the property but the people as well. I have a plethora of tools that I use and they are all free. I will provide a list of the best tools I use at the end of this article but I implore you to make sure you do a complete background check of your potential clients before going to their home. This had the potential to be much worse but it was a great learning experience for our team.

I think this is a touchy subject for some people and I’d like to examine the issues surrounding the subject of whether or not we should provoke the spirits we are investigating.

From the stand point of the less experienced and the more impatient, I’m sure they see provoking as a way to try and elicit responses and activity more quickly; some may even think it’s “cool” to get EVP’s (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) that present angry voices or doors slamming and things banging.

Family Paranormal has some differing opinions regarding this issue. Nathan, my brother, loves to provoke; he even went so far as to call the potential spirit of an elderly woman a toothless whore; she got him back by scratching his arm. My daughter and I am of the mind that provoking is mean and uncalled for. In life people don’t appreciate being yelled at and called derogatory names so what makes anyone think they would appreciate it in death?

What it comes down to is that in most cases we are dealing with souls that used to be living, breathing flesh and blood people. They deserve to be treated with the same respect as your spouse or your children. Screaming and yelling like an idiot is only going to make them angry; do you appreciate it when your spouse yells at you for no apparent reason?

We conduct extensive property research so that we don’t blindly walk in to an investigation. It’s often more beneficial to walk in with an idea of who may be haunting the location and even a little about their life, rather than to go in blind, swinging like a boxer and cursing like a sailor.The problem with this type of approach is that you may have had the opportunity to have a good experience but instead you piss the spirits off and they react in anger.

Some of the television shows depict paranormal investigators going in with guns blazing, they are all pumped up ready to fight and they are prepared to trample all over the potential feelings of these spirits all for the sake of good ratings. Other groups do not believe in provoking and they take the type of approach Family Paranormal Investigators prefers which is kind and gentle.

Whatever side you may be on the one thing to keep in mind is that these used to be peopleand they should be treated with respect. They lived, they loved and they laughed…..

The name “Ouija” is derived from the French and German words for “yes”; “oiu” and “ja”. The Ouija consists of a flat board upon which is printed the letters of the alphabet, some numbers, punctuation marks and with the words “yes” and “no”.. The participants proceed by placing their fingers lightly on a pointer (also known as a planchette), which then supposedly without the conscious effects of the participant’s moves to spell out a series of messages. The history of the Ouija board goes back centuries and it has also been called a “witch board”.

When I was a kid my grandmother bought my brother and I a Parker Bros. Ouija Board. A friend of hers, whom was a psychic, told her it was harmless fun so she bought it and we began using it once we got back to our parents home.

Parker Bros Ouija Board

My brothers shared a bedroom and since I was the only girl I had my own room. We used the Ouija board in my bedroom and suddenly none of our pets wanted to come in to my room. It wasn’t long before I began to feel “cold” in that room as well. We had an evap cooler that our parents ran for most of the summer and if you’ve ever been someplace hot then you know that an evap isn’t the coolest of things! So there was no reason for my room to be bone chilling cold but it was.

There is a lot more to the story but I’ll save that for another article. The point is that none of these things began until we used that Ouija board. If you still don’t believe me then there’s a fabulous 80’s movie titled “Witchboard” that I’m sure you can watch online somewhere.

Paranormal investigators and psychics alike all agree that Ouija boards are dangerous because they open portals to other worlds and what you get may not be what it claims, or appears, to be. In my case myself, my brothers and even some of our friends that frequented our home, began seeing what I called “shadow people”; keep in mind they weren’t there before we used that Ouija board!

So innocently we opened a portal and we spent an entire summer trying to keep our fear from our parents and trying to figure out a way to get rid of the “shadow people”. I was even physically harmed by one of them so please don’t think this was just my imagination. A radio was thrown off a bed and it smashed my foot, breaking one of my toes (extremely painful I might add) and busting a blood vessel in my foot. I spent weeks of my summer vacation hobbling around in pain.

The spirits that come through via the Ouija board may or may not be demonic. Because of the nature of the board, you will most likely get something negative and it will lie to you, it will pretend to be someone you once knew or possibly even a family member that has passed on. It may try to establish a level of trust with you and then use this trust to manipulate you and in the end to hurt you if possible.

It’s really, honestly in your best interests to NOT play with Ouija boards. If you do decide to play with one then I’d strongly advise you to brace yourself for one hell of a haunting! That house we lived in… a few months after we moved out, it caught fire and that fire started in my old bedroom.

You may have seen all the television shows (as I have) and from time to time you see and hear about “orbs”. That’s the most common name but a description would be a ball of light that appears in a photograph or video.

I am more of a skeptic when it comes to orbs. I realize that it takes a great amount of energy for a ghost or spirit to take on a shape and show itself but there’s always such a high probability that there was a bug, or dust in the air that orbs really don’t answer anything for me.

I have captured orbs in photographs before and while others become excited I stand firm in that there was simply too much probability that there was some natural explanation for it; it’s as simple as that. I do not look at orbs as definite proof of paranormal activity.

Looking at the photo (from an investigation we conducted in 2011) it would be easy to point out the big white glowing circle and say “that’s an orb!” There even appears to be something else coming up from the mattress on the floor and the room has a pink glow to it. That’s all because of the light that’s just out of frame. There were three of us in the room and though the air conditioning was off and the windows were closed, the ceiling fan had dust on it. It also appears there was an issue with how the camera took the picture (possible flash malfunction) because here’s the very next shot with that camera and you see a significant change in the lighting of the room.

Although there still appears to be an “orb” in the second picture as well, I am still chalking this up to dust from something in the room.

First I’d like to say that this, like everything else in life, is not completely guaranteed. What works for some may not work for others and if your home is a “portal” then you would most likely need to seal the home as well. This article describes a process known as “smudging” and is designed to temporarily remove negative energies from your home; that’s right I said temporarily. This is not a permanent solution but it will buy you crucial time to get a paranormal investigative team out to find out exactly what you may be dealing with.

Materials needed:
A sage smudge stick (this is a dried bundle of sage and is available at most metaphysical shops)
Lighter or matches to light the smudge stick
A small plate to catch the ashes from the smudge stick

Begin in the room furthest from the front door. If you live in a two story home then treat the stairs as you would the front door and begin in the room furthest from the stairs. Crack a window in each room of your home and take the dried bundle of sage and light it. Gently blow on it until it begins smoking, making sure to keep the small plate under the burning sage to catch the ashes. Walk through each room, ensuring that you cover as much of the room as possible with the sage smoke; make sure you even get the corners.

Be firm and recite the following as you go: “This sage is cleansing out all negative energies and spirits… all negative energies and spirits must leave now through the windows and not return. This is now my home and you must leave now!” Do this until you sense the negative energy has gone and the room’s energy lightens. Do not try to confront the spirits; simply be stern like you would with a child.

After this has been completed you will want to ensure that the sage stick is completely out by mashing it on to the plate you have been carrying and putting it out much like you would a cigarette. Once this is done, take the ashes and sprinkle them across the front doorway.

This question seems to come up quite a bit when it comes to paranormal investigations. I have found groups that say yes but still others which say no. The F.P.I. answer is YES; ghosts can, and will, follow you home if given the chance.
There have simply been too many documented cases of paranormal researchers being followed home after an investigation and even claims of families that move to escape paranormal activity only to find the haunting followed them.

Ghosts, or spirits, may be more attracted to some people’s energy than others. It’s also possible they are seeking people that may be more vulnerable and if they have malicious intentions then they may follow people they see as “weak”.

A good rule of thumb if you are an investigator would be to start and end the investigation with a prayer. Here is what we use:

Opening Prayer:
Saint Michael the Archangel, Defend us in battle
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the Devil
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray
And do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
By the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits
Who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.
Amen

Closing prayer:
In the name of Jesus Christ, I command all human spirits to be bound to
the confines of the cemetery. I command all inhuman spirits to go where Jesus
Christ tells you to go, for it is He who commands you. Amen